The present invention relates to a manipulator and a manipulator system including a joint assembly that is bent for various treatments and so on.
Typically there has been a manipulator used including a treatment tool inserted into the body cavity of a patient, wherein the distal end of the treatment tool is pulled and bent as by a wire for treatments. Often in surgical operations, a plurality of treatment tools such as an endoscope for viewing, a forceps for holding tissues and an electrical knife for dissecting tissues are inserted into the body cavity.
A pertinent prior publication (U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,542) discloses a manipulator structure wherein a guide wire is located in such a way as to intersect itself between the base members and the guide wire is fixed at its end so that the base members move in rolling contact with each other while movements of joints between the base members are constrained by the guide wire. With such structure, the base members are unlikely to slip because the guide wire will receive a load resulting from sliding movement of the base members when the joints are bent.